Poland's ruling conservative Law and Justice party won the parliamentary election on Sunday with 43.6 percent of votes, according to exit poll published by IPSOS. Liberal Civic Coalition got the second result with 27.4 percent. The Left came third with 11.9 percent, Polish People's Party won 9.6 percent, whereas far-right parties coalition - Confederation - managed to secure 6.4 percent of votes. The turnout was 61.1 percent. Late poll published before 2 am on Monday shows slight changes in the result of two committees.
The National Electoral Commission published late polls at 1.40 am on Monday, which showed slight changes for two committees. The Left gained 0.5 percentage point, which raised the result up to 12.4 percent. Polish People's party, on the other hand, lost 0.5 percentage point, which means PSL secured 9.1 percent of votes.
IPSOS exit poll for three television stations. The average accuracy margin of the poll is 2 percentage points.
The nationwide turnout was 61.1 percent - IPSOS pollster informed.
If the final results match the exit polls, all five abovementioned nationwide committees would win seats in the parliament, as the minimum threshold is 5 percent.
IPSOS, which conducts exit polls for all television stations, presents the following, possible seat distribution in the Sejm.
According to exit poll by IPSOS, Law and Justice can count on 239 seats in the lower house, Civic Coalition on 130, the Left - 43, Polish People's Party - 34, and Confederation - 13.
The late poll by IPSOS slightly changed seat distribution projection: Civic Coalition would gain 1 seat (131), the Left would gain 3 seats (46), and Polish People's Party would lose 4 seats (30). The results of Law and Justice and Confederation remain as in the exit poll.
In Sunday's election, Poles were electing 640 MPs and 100 senators. In total, 5112 candidates for MPs were running - an average of 11 candidates per seat. In the election to the Senate, a total of 278 candidates were running in 100 single-mandate constituencies.
Reactions
Party leaders gave short speeches right after the exit polls had been published.
Law and Justice chairman Jarosław Kaczyński: "We've managed to win and it seems it (the result) will stand. If it stands, the good change will continue. If we have another four years in power, then we need to analyse what we managed to do and what went wrong".
"We are a formation which deserves more. We've got much, but we deserve more. Above all, it means that we're bound with an obligation. To work, to ideas, to invention, and to looking closer at those groups that did not support us," he added.
Kaczyński underscored that "Poland must keep on changing for better".
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said "those 7.5 or 8 million Poles entrusted us with a huge obligation to fulfil the hopes for the next four years, to reach a key stage on Poland's road to prosperity, to Poland as a country of prosperity for all. There's only one Poland".
"The result we achieved gives us a huge social mandate, despite all this adversity - wind blew in our eyes for four years, as we were treading uphill with a bag full of stones, on a winding uphill path. And yet we gained a significant, huge social trust," he added.
"Hoping to win in the Senate, I would like to say that the only way to go is through further cooperation and integration of opposition parties and circles. But I would also like to say that all is still to come - the presidential election - we will be ready then as well and we will win, that's our promise," said the leader of Civic Platform (the biggest party in Civic Coalition), Grzegorz Schetyna.
He added that he wanted to pass a message "to all those who had dreamt of a huge win, about domination, who wanted to form the state in such a way so only they could feel good in it - I want say to them: there will be no Budapest in Warsaw".
Standing next to Robert Biedroń and Adrian Zandberg on the election night, the chairman of Democratic Left Alliance, Włodzimierz Czarzasty said: "You had nothing, he had nothing, I had nothing - together we have returned to the Sejm".
"We've promised it to our parties, to the left-wing, that we would return to the Sejm. It's a great success, we're back. We will be able to present our programme. We will be able to defend the constitution, that the left had given to Poland. We will be able to speak about Europe and the European Union, to which the left had led Poland. Be proud of it," he said.
Wiosna (Spring) party leader, Robert Biedroń said: "we're returning where the Polish left has always belonged - to the temple of democracy, to the Polish parliament".
"We've united three generations. We've done something that happens rarely in the Polish political life, we've extended hands towards each other, we've changed the image of Polish politics. We're coming to the Sejm and we will be working there every day. every week, every month and every year in the whole term, to show that Poland can be different than what we've got used to in the last four years, that Poland can be open, modern, tolerant, smiling, and - on top of that - prosperous," Biedroń said.
"We made it. Those were three crazy months and now we're coming to the parliament as the third political power, with strong representation, and Jarosław Kaczyński has a problem. Jarosław Kaczyński has a problem because there will be brave opposition in the Sejm," said Adrian Zandberg, the leader of Lewica Razem party.
He stressed that "in the Sejm, there will opposition that wants to fight". "There will be oppostion in the Sejm, that will fight for workers' rights, for better-quality public service, for a decent health care, and for better wages for workers," Zandberg listed.
"There will be a left-wing party in the Polish Sejm and that changes everything. This is the first step towards a left-wing government," he added.
The chairman of Polish People's Party (PSL), Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, thanked for every vote cast on PSL. "It's a great honour for us," he said.
Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that if the exit polls are confirmed, it would be "a huge mandate of trust from fellow countrymen for rational centrists, the Polish Coalition (PSL and Kukiz'15 movement).
"Already today, I'd like to invite all people of good will to join an even broader bloc, even broader Polish Coalition, because such rational centre of decent, moderate, but devoted to homeland every day, is very much needed," he added.
He reassured that PSL would be safeguarding its principles. "There will be no risky turns left or right. Sych Poland is possible. And we know what kind of Poland we want: a country that is free, independent, democratic, dignified, that respects all citizens, and not autocracy".
The chairman of KORWiN, Janusz Korwin-Mikke, stressed that various circles were united under Confederation. He listed, among others, nationalists, ultra-conservative Catholics, libertarians and monarchists. "We played as one team, it went great and I hope these results will reflect this," he said.
Korwin-Mikke also thanked the voters. "They are the people who want to see changes. Our motto was: "Either continuation, or Confederation". They chose Confederation," he added.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, Ipsos
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Shutterstock